Barrington’s Smart Farm celebrates ‘Year of the Tomato’ with workshops

Smart Farm began celebrating its “Year of the Tomato” with a workshop held Sunday, May 20. The workshop, titled “Planting and Staking Tomatoes,” took place at the Smart Farm garden in Barrington’s Ron Beese Park. Workshop participants learned the best practices for planting and staking tomatoes to ensure great results for growing America’s number one backyard vegetable — the tomato.

The second tomato workshop will take place on Sunday, June 10, with the subject being “Pruning Tomatoes.” The third and final tomato event will be a tomato tasting on Sunday, August 19. Attendees will have a chance to taste the many varieties of tomatoes grown this summer in the Smart Farm garden. These tomatoes will represent some of the many colors, tastes and sizes of available tomatoes. Find a tomato you especially enjoy to consider planting in your own garden next year.

Smart Farm is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing fresh-grown produce to local food pantries, and also serves as an educational resource to the community on sustainable gardening practices. In 2011, with all-volunteer help, Smart Farm donated more than 1,500 pounds of fresh produce to local food pantries to support those in need.

For additional information about Smart Farm and to sign up for these free tomato events, visit www.smartfarms.org.

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